


The Small Child

by LuckyPanda13



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: All the Cute, Gen, Little Girl - Freeform, adorableness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2014-07-24
Packaged: 2018-02-10 06:25:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2014494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuckyPanda13/pseuds/LuckyPanda13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Earth's mightiest heroes are matched up against what might be their biggest challenge yet: a small child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Small Child

It was an accident. None of them really knew what had happened until they finished fighting whatever bad-guy threatening some large city. It was Black Widow who found her. Somehow, throughout the fighting and the roaring from Hulk and the snarky comments from Iron Man and the _twang_ sound that echoed faintly whenever Hawkeye killed something and the sharp commands from Captain America and the battle cries from Thor and whatever _else_ was going on, Black Widow spun around, making sure everything around her was dead and her eyes met bright green. Black Widow didn’t know what possessed her to pick up the small child and carry her to the rendezvous. It might have been the fact that the girl reminded her so much of herself, or it could have been that the girl didn’t say a word the entire time. She didn’t cry, she didn’t scream, she didn’t laugh… _Nothing_.

“Good work, team.” Captain America said, smiling broadly at everyone. The robots had all been destroyed, the bad guy had been captured, and Hulk managed to remember to meet them at the rendezvous instead of running off like usual.

“Black Widow, what’s that?” Black Widow glanced over at Hawkeye, who quirked an eyebrow up and nodded at the small girl in her arms.

“She was in the middle of the fighting.” Black Widow said, coldly. “I had to keep her safe.” The girl’s green eyes were wide in awe as she took in the heroes around her.

“Do we know where her parents are?” Captain America asked, sighing.

“We don’t even know if she _has_ parents.” Iron Man pointed out.

“She doesn’t.” Black Widow said.

“How can you tell?” Thor asked.

“Look at her.” Hawkeye said. “She hasn’t been fed properly, her clothes are falling off, and dirt is embedded in her skin and hair. She’s been living on the streets for a while.”

“Maybe she’s living on the streets with her parents.” Captain America suggested.

“Why don’t we ask her?” Thor suggested. Everyone turned to stare at the god. He shrugged. “She knows the answers we seek.”

“Honey,” Black Widow looked into those impossibly green eyes gently, “Do you have parents? A mommy or a daddy?” The girl stared blankly back, shaking her head lightly. The group sighed.

“What are we going to do with her?” Iron Man asked.

“We have to take care of her.” Black Widow said, leaving no room for debate.

* * *

“She needs a name.”

“Why don’t we just _ask_ her what her name is?”

“She doesn’t talk, you _know_ that, stupid.”

“So, we’re just going to make up a name for her?”

“What would _you_ suggest?”

“…”

“Okay, so we’re agreed. What should be her name?”

* * *

 The girl won over Steve’s heart just as easily as she won Natasha’s. The argument back at the Avengers Tower was long and fierce. Natasha refused to budge on the subject of the girl. Steve had tried calmly convincing her to give the girl over to an orphanage, Tony had brought up the statistics for the benefits of putting the girl in an orphanage, Bruce had brought up their dangerous lifestyle, but nothing swayed Natasha from her decision. Somehow, in that first moment when Natasha’s eyes met the little girl’s, Natasha knew she would be keeping the girl. Only Clint and Thor refrained from speaking, Clint because he knew Natasha better than anyone else and Thor because the god remained silent for the majority of arguments before speaking calmly.

“I’ll adopt her.” Natasha said, stubbornly.

“Nat, think about it.” Steve said. “We’re not equipped to deal with a child, a _four-year-old_ child. None of us are parents or have _been_ parents. We don’t know what we’re getting into here!” A slight tugging on his jeans made Steve jump and look down. The girl looked up at him, her face giving away nothing. Steve knelt down next to her. “Hey.” She kissed his cheek gently and Steve lost his heart to her. Steve didn’t realize he had a dorky grin on his face.

“What just happened?” Tony asked, pointing at the girl, who returned to the couch she had been lying on and fell asleep again. Natasha grinned at Steve’s dazed smile.

“She _is_ kind of cute.” Steve said, standing up, his eyes locked on the slumbering girl.

“Wha – _Steve_!” Tony gaped at the man.

“We can’t send her to the orphanage now.” Thor said, diplomatically. “She has not been cared for properly and would not do well trying to survive in a new environment whilst ill.” The group took a step back, metaphorically, and stared at the cause of the argument. “She is in no position to fend for herself now.”

“Why are you _for_ this?” Bruce asked.

“Children are not easy to come by in Asgard.” Thor shrugged. “And I have a great love for children.” 

* * *

“Sarah.”

“I have known _way_ too many Sarah’s for me to appreciate that name.”

“Clint, you don’t even _like_ her.”

“Irrelevant.”

“Is this really important right now?”

“Tony, she needs a name.”

“We can’t just keep calling her ‘girl’.”

“Why not?”

“Why don’t you help us, instead of being so negative?” 

* * *

The girl won Thor’s heart several days after the argument. The god had been working out, as he liked to do in his spare time, when the girl tugged on his sweatpants gently. He looked down and grinned, kneeling so he was at eye level with the girl. She hadn’t spoken since Natasha picked her up, and so they were under the impression the girl was mute, but they still managed to establish communication with her. The girl was finally wearing clothes that fit her and she had been eating properly for days, yet she was still far from healthy, as could be seen by the bones that stuck out like needles.

“How might I help you, little one?” They hadn’t established a name for her yet. Tony and Bruce both refused to name the girl, because they knew if they named the girl, the girl would be theirs. The girl ran over to Mjölnir and hugged the handle, grinning at Thor. Thor watched, in awe, as she picked up the hammer from the ground, and promptly fell over with the weight. Thor hurried to her side, praying to Odin that she hadn’t crushed herself with his weapon.

“Thor!” Natasha was supremely protective of the girl. Thor knew he was going to be in trouble if anything happened to her. He snatched Mjölnir from the ground and sighed in relief when he saw that the girl had dropped the hammer next to her, not on top of her. “What did you do?” Natasha snapped, hurrying to his side. The girl sat up, breathlessly giggling. She looked at the hammer in Thor’s hands and held out her hands, expectantly.

“She can carry Mjölnir.” Thor grinned.

“Doesn’t she have to be Asgardian to do that?” Natasha asked.

“No, she just must be worthy of the hammer.” Thor explained. Thor placed the hammer on the ground and the girl hugged the handle again, giggling and stealing Thor’s heart all in one moment. The moment the rest of the group heard what had happened, Thor was admonished by Steve for being so careless with his hammer.

“Well, he didn’t know that she would be able to pick up the hammer.” Clint pointed out. “She’s _four_.”

“True.” Steve sighed. “Well, just be more careful with it.”

* * *

“How about Natasha Jr.?”

“I will kick you very hard, Clint.”

“What about Sigrún?”

“Thor…”

“It is the name of a Valkyrie.”

“No.”

“But –”

“ _No_.”

* * *

Bruce fell for her two days later. There had been another argument about her and he had retreated to his room to meditate. He took deep breaths and calmed himself down. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the girl or didn’t want her around, he was just positive that she would become terrified of Hulk and he didn’t want to deal with the heartbreak again. His eyes shot open as he felt the girl clamber into his lap. She crossed her legs and grinned up at him. Bruce knew he should send her away, but those green eyes that reminded him of Hulk, tore into his heart. He sighed and continued meditating, hoping she’d go away on her own. An hour later, she was asleep in his arms and the wall around his heart had crumbled.

“Bruce, have you seen –” Natasha knocked on his door. Bruce shushed her quietly.

“She’s sleeping.” Bruce carried the girl to the room that had been set aside for her. “She needs a name.” He murmured to Natasha. Natasha shot him a soft smile.

“Yes, she does.” 

* * *

“What about Stacy?”

“No.”

“Veronica?”

“No.”

“Why do you get to veto all the names, Nat?”

“Because I said so.”

“Anyone should be able to veto the names.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re _all_ going to have to call her by it.” 

* * *

Clint fell hard for her a week later. He was dorking around, firing arrows at the targets Tony and Bruce made when he spotted the girl off to his right. She giggled and clapped happily every time he hit the target. He waited for her to do something, pretending like he hadn’t noticed her and firing at the target. He paused to go collect his arrows and when he returned, she held out her hands, silently asking to fire the bow. He smirked at her.

“This is too big for you.” He said. She furrowed her brow, trying to figure out some way she could fire the bow. He chuckled to himself and knelt down. “Show me where to shoot.” She grinned and mimicked his standing position, feet apart and shoulders square with her feet. She held her hands up like she was firing a bow and tilted her head, considering the target. Clint noticed that either she was mimicking him perfectly, or she was left-handed as well. She looked at him and he positioned his bow exactly the way she was pretending to hold one. She tilted her imaginary bow back slightly and Clint adjusted his bow. She pretended to fire and Clint fired. They both looked at the target, Clint shocked and impressed that she had managed to guide him into a bull’s-eye without saying a word.

“Do you want one?” He asked the girl. She nodded, green eyes wide. He smiled and found himself making a small bow for her. The pair was found an hour later with Clint kneeling behind her and helping her with her stance and firing position by the rest of the team. “Take a deep breath through your nose.” Clint ordered gently. “Now, breathe out through your mouth, and fire.” Once again, the arrow found the middle of the target.

“Clint!” Steve sounded betrayed. Clint nearly fell over and glanced at the rest of the team.

“She did it!” He pointed at the girl. She burst into hysterical giggles and fell over.

“Clint.” Natasha quirked an eyebrow at him.

“What?” The poor man had no idea why everyone was mad at him. “She _wanted_ to!” The girl hopped up and hugged the man from behind, kissing his cheek happily. Clint felt himself blush, something he hadn’t done since he was a teenager, and grinned sheepishly at the team. He didn't realize he had fallen for the girl just as quickly as the others. 

* * *

“What about Katherine?”

“Ugh. _No_.”

“Nat hates the name Katherine.”

“Why?”

“Long story short: Natasha killed Katherine.”

“Okay, I am really confused.”

“You two are creepy.”

“What about –”

“No, Thor.” 

* * *

Hulk fell in love with the girl when the tower got attacked again. He had finally been let out and was smashing, happily, when he noticed that there was nothing left to smash. He looked around, hoping for more smashing and he saw eyes that matched him. _Green_ , the puny Banner informed him. Hulk saw the tiny human, huddled in the corner. Her eyes were wide, but not scared. Hulk didn’t like it when puny humans were afraid of him. That made him angry. Hulk plopped down on the ground, watching the tiny human. She was too tiny to be a threat. She was so tiny that she needed to be protected. Hulk would protect her. She got up and ran to him, holding up her arms, silently asking to be picked up.

The team found the girl hugging Hulk’s face minutes later. Hulk kept one large hand around her tiny body to keep her from falling, but otherwise, looked content. Black Widow struggled not to panic, but Thor walked up to Hulk and placed his hand on the large green muscles gently. Hulk looked at the god and Thor smiled.

“Hulk kept her safe.” Thor said. Hulk nodded. “Hulk did well.” 

* * *

“Hulk thinks she should be named Betty.”

“ _No_!”

“Don’t yell at me, the other guy just wanted to put in a suggestion.”

“I’m kind of liking Thor’s suggestion.”

“Sigrún? Really, Clint?”

“What?” 

* * *

Tony felt betrayed by his whole team. First, they had managed to hold onto the girl “until she was healthy”, which he should have seen immediately as a foot in the door, because now even _Hulk_ was suggesting names for her. Now, it was a month later, and Tony had avoided the girl with all his worth.

“Sir, the small child is at the door.” Jarvis said, politely. Tony looked over at the door to the workshop, startled. The little girl stared at him, tugging on the handle.

“Fine.” Tony sighed. “Let her in.”

“But, sir, there are dangerous –”

“Just let her in, Jarvis.”

“Yes, sir.” The door swung open, startling the girl. She quickly entered and walked up to Tony’s side. Tony, for his part, continued eyeing the string of code he was watching. There was a virus in Jarvis _somewhere_ , but he couldn’t find it. Their most recent bad guy had infected the AI and Tony had been cleaning up Jarvis’ code ever since. Bruce had helped him for the most part, but writing code wasn’t the doctor’s expertise. There was still one more glitch he hadn’t found yet and it was getting frustrating. The girl tugged on his shirt and he looked down, annoyed. Her green eyes focused on him and her arms came up silently asking to be picked up.

“No.” He told her. She merely blinked at him and waited. “Stubborn, aren't you?” She didn't reply. Sighing, Tony picked up the girl and placed her in his lap. She eyed the code on the hologram and Tony could have rolled his eyes. She couldn’t possibly understand what was going on. She looked up at him and he sighed again. “There’s a virus in the system somewhere, but I can’t find it.” The girl nodded and looked back at the hologram. Sighing, Tony started scrolling through the code again. The girl suddenly sat up in his lap and pointed at the hologram. Tony stopped scrolling and she poked the hologram right where a 1 was supposed to be a 0. Tony froze and looked at the girl, who simply blinked at him. 

* * *

“Her name is Alexi.”

Everyone turned and stared at Tony, who carried the small girl on his hip. They had been arguing over her name again and somehow the girl had disappeared again. Natasha had no idea how the girl managed to sneak away, but she always did. Steve had been trying to get the group to calm down and Thor had been insisting that Sigrún was the _best_ name. Clint was struggling not to snort the water he was drinking out of his nose from laughter and Bruce was annoyed with everyone in the room. No one expected Tony to help name the girl, nor did they expect him to fall in love with her.

“How do you know that?” Natasha asked, crossing her arms.

“Because that’s what it is.” Tony shrugged. “And I like it.”

“Why do you suddenly love her?” Clint asked.

“She’s a genius.” Tony said, sitting down. The girl, Alexi, cuddled up to him and rested her small hand on the arc reactor in his chest.

“Yes, we know she’s talented –”

“No, she was watching code as quickly as I was and found the last bit of virus in Jarvis’ system before I did.” Tony corrected Bruce. “She’s a genius.”

“Wow.” Bruce sat back.

“I’m assuming that’s impressive.” Steve glanced at Bruce, who nodded. “Cool.”

“Yes, it’s very cool.” Tony grinned. “Now, onto the next order of business: the four-year-old is managing to wander throughout the tower unaccompanied and without anyone realizing it. This would be a problem.”

“I don’t know _how_ she does it!” Natasha groaned. “I swear, I take my eyes off of her for a _second_ to glance around me and then she’s _gone_!”

“She can divert light away from her, rendering herself basically invisible.” Tony said. Everyone blinked.

“What?” Thor leaned forward.

“Long story short: she’s got telekinesis, and she has learned how to _not be seen_ , probably through life on the street, by making light move away from her, so she becomes invisible.” Tony said.

“How do you know it is telekinesis?” Bruce asked.

“Alexi, baby, show them what you showed me.” Tony spoke to the girl on his chest. She sat up straight and glanced at Tony. “It’s all right. Grab a cookie from the kitchen.” She took a deep breath and looked at the doorway to the kitchen. A moment later, a chocolate chip cookie flew through the air and landed gently in her hands. “Go on, eat it.” She instantly began chewing excitedly on the cookie. She really was just a four-year-old at heart.

“Wow.” Thor grinned.

“How you figured anything else out about her?” Steve asked.

“Well, she knows her letters and numbers. She can write complete thoughts and sentences given the opportunity, and she knows how to type.” Tony said. “Also, she loves chocolate and purple is her favorite color.” He glanced at the girl in his arms. “Oh yeah, and her birthday is in four days.”

“How did you figure all this out?” Steve asked.

“She just told me.” Tony shrugged. “I got her a little laptop and pulled out a word document and told her to write whatever she wanted. She wrote a little story about a dog named Puddle and a duckling named Spot.”

“Is that even right?” Clint blinked. Tony shrugged.

“Her story. Don’t ask me.”

“And she just wrote about herself?” Natasha asked.

“Occasionally.” Tony nodded. “She kind of stuck with Puddle and Spot, though. It was very adorable. I’ll show you guys later.”

“She told you her name is Alexi?” Natasha continued.

“Kinda.” Tony shook his head. “I just started calling her that and then she asked me how I guessed her name.”

“Do we know why she can’t speak?” Bruce asked.

“No.” Tony shrugged. “It could just be that she doesn't want to or she can’t remember how or it could be that she can’t.”

“But she does understand us?” Thor asked. Alexi nodded in Tony’s arms.

“She seems to be quite taken with everybody. She included us in the story with Puddle and Spot.” Tony grinned.

“How cute.” The group turned to acknowledge Nick Fury. “Is this child the reason why my agents are all unresponsive?”

“Yeah, just about.” Tony said. “Say, do you want to come over next week for her birthday party?”

**Author's Note:**

> Alexi is adorable and cute and a bit of a Mary Sue, but at the same time, she's four and not many people can resist a four-year-old. Also, in terms of her picking up Mjölnir: she's too young to have anything other than a pure heart. As for her sudden and inexplicable archery abilities, she has telekinesis and, as such, can hit the center of the target every time even if she's not using enough force to fire the bow properly. She just want to hit the target and her powers take over, allowing her to do so. Because, again, she's four. And a bit of a brat.


End file.
